-Credit:Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd
Warren Gatland has named his Wales squad for the upcoming Six Nations.
There are plenty of surprise calls and omissions in the 34-man squad.
Here’s everything the Wales coach had to say…
READ MORE: Wales squad announcement Live: Warren Gatland makes big changes for Six Nations
READ MORE: George North gets rave reviews in France for what he’s done in private over the last four months
What has Dan Edwards shown to earn a call-up?
“We’ve been impressed with him. We were hoping to have him in, in the autumn. But unfortunately he had a groin strain and picked up a head knock so we didn’t get a chance to look at him.
“We’ve been impressed in terms of the way that he’s played. He’s matured nicely into looking like a quality 10.”
Do you have any qualms about throwing him into Six Nations campaign at an early age?
“For us, it’s the one position where we’ve spoken about trying to develop some strength in depth. Someone like him gets an opportunity to stake a bit of a claim.
“We’ve been impressed with how he’s controlled games. His kicking game has developed in recent times. He’s got a good running game too.”
The other uncapped player is Ellis Mee – why have you picked him?
“He’s pretty exciting. He’s got a good presence about him. He’s quick. He’s good aerially. Even though he’s playing on the wing, he’s played a lot at full-back.
“I think he played 21 out of 22 games there. He’s an option at full-back going forward. The back-three has been a concern for us with strength in depth. We’ve got more options there now and it’s good to see someone like Josh Adams back and in contention.”
How important is to welcome experience back with Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau also in the squad?
“That’s been the positive for us. Someone like Dafydd Jenkins is back too with his energy and enthusiasm in the squad.
“It’s probably the first time in a while we’ve had some real dilemmas around some of the selections. We’ve had some good healthy debate around the team.”
Join WalesOnline Rugby’s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
What was the reason for Max Llewellyn missing out?
“He’s pretty unlucky in terms of that. For us probably, there’s a lot of quality 12s around. It’s probably 13 is the one position we haven’t got depth. Apart from Joe being there as an option with the left foot, we’ll see how he’ll go. He’s definitely unlucky in terms of missing out on the squad.
“We were limited a bit. We were going to pick a maximum of 33, but we picked 34 as we get a chance to go to France. Really short preparation time for that game on the Friday night, then onto a camp in Nice which we’ve done before and has been hugely positive for us.”
Was there anything more Max could have done?
“He’s been spoken to in terms of that. For him, there’s probably an opportunity to get more touches and get his hands on the ball. He didn’t have any touches against South Africa. I know we didn’t have a lot of ball in that game.
“He’s just got to continue doing what he’s doing. There was a long discussion around midfield and the make-up of that, trying to get some experience in there around some of the youngsters. For us, it was trying to get a real balance in the team.”
Why has Gareth Anscombe missed out?
“Again, that was a big point. We’ve spoken about 10 as being the position to develop some strength in depth over the next couple of years, looking short term and long term.
“Getting some experience in the position. We know Gareth has a lot of experience. One of the things we talked about is he’s 33 now and he’ll be 36 by the next World Cup. Will he be around? We need to develop some options in that position.”
After the autumn, is the Six Nations all about results?
“We know it’s about performances and results. Those first two games are really important for us. That game in Paris will be tough, then it’s the Italy game. It’s about momentum.
“You get some good results and you never know what can happen in this tournament. We’re excited about this squad. We’re excited about the balance, with some experience to bolster the squad is a real positive for us.”
After the review, is there a sense your job is on the line?
“Absolutely. There’s been a lot of discussions and debate about that. I’m pretty aware of the situation we’re in as a group of coaches. We’ve got to go out and work hard to show improvements and perform well.”
Other notable absentees are Cameron Winnett and Taine Plumtree – why didn’t they feature?
“When we were limited a little bit on numbers, how did we get the balance right? Taine’s a bit unlucky as we decided to go with five second-rows and five back-rows. We talked about six back-rowers and four second-rows. We were a bit compromised with players playing outside of Wales.
“On the Tuesday in Test weeks, those not selected from English and French clubs go back to their clubs. We don’t have them in the fallow weeks either. It does limit your preparation. We probably need to look at bringing in one or two local players to bolster up the numbers in fallow weeks, particularly in the lock position when you’ve got Dafydd, Christ, Will and Freddie not available for those fallow weeks.
“That will be challenging for us. It was us trying to get that balance right between what was the numbers of back-row and second-row.”
How are you feeling at hooker with injures to Ryan Elias and Dewi Lake?
“We thought Elliot was good yesterday. He had some good touches. For someone who hasn’t played for a while, he brings some experience. For us, we’ve continued to persevere with Evan. He’s still learning his trade, but around the field he’s got a huge amount to offer.
“We’ve lost some experience with Ryan and Dewi, but there’s some good youngsters. Over the next couple of years, we’ve lost some depth but some youngsters will come through. Even though we’re lacking experience, there’s definitely quality.”
Was the captaincy decision an easy call?
“I think that Jac (Morgan) was one of the captains in the World Cup and he’s been captaining the Ospreys. Daf did a really good job. The three players we’ve used in that captaincy role are all young men with a huge amount of potential. Any one of those three could do a great job for us.”
Are you relishing the trip to France or is there a sense of trepidation?
“There’s always trepidation. We look back to the Six Nations last year when we were ahead at 62 minutes. They brought on all their bench on which had a huge impact.
“We weren’t able to deal with that. Playing France first up isn’t a bad thing. They tend to take a while to get started in the Six Nations. Playing them first up is a bit of a replica of 2019.Hopefully we can start well.”
Is there likely to be an announcement on any changes to coaches soon?
“We’ll probably make an announcement later in the week, in terms of a couple of individuals coming in in managerial roles and support staff within the team.”